The incoming president of the University of Saskatchewan wants to &quot;indigenize&quot; the province’s largest university.

First Nations, Metis and Inuit people will be top of mind when English Prof. Peter Stoicheff takes the helm in October.

&quot;We cannot do our role in fostering a civil society with success unless we become demonstratively … the best place we can possibly be for the aboriginal people of this province and of this country,&quot; Stoicheff told a crowd gathered Thursday for the announcement of a new university president. &quot;None of the rest of it matters at this point in our nation’s history if we do not achieve this.&quot;

University board of governors chair Greg Smith announced Stoicheff as the board’s choice as the 11th president of the U of S at a Thursday event on campus.

&quot;The university deserves the very best president, and we found him in Peter Stoicheff,&quot; Smith said in an interview.

Stoicheff joined the university as an assistant professor in 1986, and is currently dean of the college of arts and science.

Stoicheff is a &quot;dedicated leader&quot; and the board’s selection was a good move, said University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union president Jack Saddleback.

The U of S has already done some good work making the institution more welcoming for aboriginal people, Saddleback said, and Stoicheff can build on that by following some of the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

&quot;We can always be better. We can always shoot for the stars in indigenizing our institution,&quot; said Saddleback, who hails from the Samson Cree Nation in Maskwacis, Alta.

The gap in education, standard of living and life expectancy between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people is too great, Stoicheff said. The university has to lead the way to closing those gaps – and do it now – he said.

&quot;The moral imperative is too strong not for us to play our part,&quot; Stoicheff said.

He said he will be looking at some of the TRC’s recommendations to post-secondary institutions, which are meant to revitalize the relationship between aboriginal people and other Canadians.

The recommendations include offering courses for students to learn about the &quot;unique sociocultural situation&quot; of aboriginal Canadians, including aboriginal languages in university programs and an increase in federal government funds for First Nations

students to go to college and university.

Stoicheff said education on First Nations and Metis history should be mandatory for all students, whether through coursework, from elders or another experience.

Previous U of S president Ilene Busch-Vischniac had also declared the recruitment and retention of aboriginal students as one of her priorities.

As of February, the U of S had 2,155 students enrolled who declared themselves aboriginal. That’s nearly 11 per cent of the student body.

However, only 59.5 per cent of aboriginal students who started programs in 2013-14 finished the year.

Stoicheff said one of his next steps is to strike a search committee for a new university provost. Whoever fills that role will work closely with the president.

The U of S has been without a permanent president or provost since May 2014, when the board fired Busch-Vischniac after she spent less than two years in the role.

Busch-Vischniac introduced the contentious cost-saving and restructuring TransformUS plan for the university that drew the ire of many on campus. When Prof. Robert Buckingham, then executive director of the School of Public Health, publicly eviscerated the plan, Busch-Vischniac’s administration fired him and stripped him of his tenure. The firing prompted an international outcry, and the provost and president both lost their jobs.

Former Saskatchewan lieutenant-governor and past university secretary Gordon Barnhart has been serving as interim president since May 2014.

A consultant organized the search for a new president, which resulted in a short list of candidates ready by May.

Although Smith wouldn’t say how many people were short listed, he said the search was international in scope, and the short list included candidates from both inside and outside the U of S. Stoicheff, who supported TransformUS at the time, said &quot;we’re not going back to that.

&quot;My presidency is not about looking back at an issue that this university had, and I think has recovered extremely well from. It’s about moving forward and seeing a wonderful future.&quot;

The university will install Stoicheff as president on Oct. 24 for a five-year-term.

1. Peter Stoicheff was born in Ottawa, obtained an undergraduate degree from Queen’s University and did his Master’s and PhD in English literature at the University of Toronto

2. Stoicheff is an expert in the works of American poet Ezra Pound and Nobel-prize winning novelist William Faulkner

3. Stoicheff moved to Saskatoon in 1986 after meeting his wife Kathryn Warden in Ontario. Warden is the director of research profile and impact at the U of S, and a past StarPhoenix reporter

4. The English professor led a university project to track down a rare and valuable collection of pages from manuscripts composed by monks in Europe between 1100 and 1550 5. As dean of arts and science, Stoicheff restructured several departments to create more collaboration between fine arts, social sciences and the humanities

6. The classical guitarist and composer has released two albums of his music

7. He has no plans to move into the university president’s residence. Stoicheff thinks it’s important to live in the community, and wants to keep the building free for more events

8. By taking the presidency, Stoicheff is putting his son out of a job. His son Christopher is a government relations specialist in interim president Gordon Barnhart’s office, and will have to resign when his dad takes over.

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